The leader of a prominent anti-gay organization called Supreme Court Chief John Roberts' decision to adopt children the "second-best option," the AP reports.

"You're looking at what is the best course societywide to get you the optimal result in the widest variety of cases. That often is not open to people in individual cases. Certainly adoption in families headed, like Chief Roberts' family is, by a heterosexual couple, is by far the second-best option," said John Eastman, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage.

Eastman was responding to a question about the Chief Justice's position on the rights of same-sex couples. Roberts and his wife adopted two children, Jack and Josie, in 2000. Both children are now 12 years old.

The Supreme Court will consider two high-profile gay rights cases later this month-- whether or not to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8.

As the AP points out, the briefs supporting the federal and California gay marriage bans include a narrow definition of what a family is-- a man, a woman, and their biological children. Opponents of same-sex marriage have argued that since gay couples can't naturally have children, they don't deserve to be married. Roberts is considered to be a likely vote against gay marriage.

AmericaBlog points out that this statement is in line with others from the religious right on adoption, including newly-elected Pope Francis, who once called gay adoption "a form of discrimination."